Grigori Sokolnikov

Grigori Sokolnikov (15 August 1888-21 May 1939) was People's Commissar for Finance of the Soviet Union from 22 November 1922 to 16 January 1926, succeeding Nikolay Krestinsky and preceding Nikolai Bryukhanov.

Biography
Grigori Sokolnikov was born on 15 August 1888 in Romny, Russian Empire to a family of Ukrainian Jews. He joined the Bolsheviks in 1905 and returned to Russia in 1917 with Vladimir Lenin after the Russian Revolution toppled Nicholas II of Russia. Sokolnikov signed the 1918 Brest-Litovsk Treaty with the German Empire, ending Russia's role in World War I, and along with Rosalia Zemlyachka he ordered mass shootings during the Russian Civil War while the commissar of the Soviet 8th Army. From 1922 to 1926 he served as People's Commissar for Finance of the Soviet Union, creating the first stable Soviet currency and being capable at his tasks. However, he was removed after he called for Joseph Stalin's removal from power, so on 21 May 1939 he was killed in prison by other convicts during the Great Purge.